Tales of Time: The Boiling Planet
by out.of.sea.into.woods
Summary: When Ariel meets the strange human who's not human, she believes she's finally met her ticket out of the sea. And the strange man, the Doctor, takes her to see worlds she never dreamed of. But when he takes her to a mysterious, scalding world that is falling apart from the inside out, it seems that Ariel's adventures may end before they begin.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Doctor Who or Disney.**

**A note for the reader:**

**This will be a series, with a butt load of Disney characters. Feel free to suggest characters and I will feel free to ignore them if I don't wanna write for them.**

**I will use any of the Doctors, but mostly 10 (because we all know he's the best. If you disagree, it's fine. You can have your opinion. You can have your _wrong_ opinion).**

**Do not expect me to perfectly weave the worlds together.**

**Don't expect the Disney stories to end like they originally do. Trust me, I will treat them like Steven Moffat would (and we're all crying).**

**Enjoy.**

**-Roman**

CHAPTER 1

Ariel reclined easily on a smooth undersea rock, jutting out from the seafloor. Her tail floated up gently and the current was easy around her. She was on her back and as her hair swirled around her face, she smiled up at the sparkling light the reflected through the red fibers.

She reached into her bag, made of tied fisherman's netting, and pulled out something strange and wonderful. It was long and ended in pointed spears, but they weren't that sharp. She ran her fingertips over the smooth surface, smiling at the strange reflection.

"Ariel!" A familiar voice cried out. She rolled her eyes and flipped over, resting her chin in her palm.

"Flounder!" She scolded the little guppy. "What took you so long?"

Flounder was gasping, his blue stripped sides heaving. "I... I was swimming... And I was trying not... Not to be seen, cause you... You, you said that we shouldn't, shouldn't be- Whoo, I'm tired now." He flouted down to rest on the floor. As he landed, a puff of sand went up around him. Ariel laughed softly and shook her head. She reached down and scooped him up in her arms.

"Come on, we have to go see Scuttle." She swam up, starting towards the world above.

"Ah, do we have to? That old bird brain, he's so weird." Flounder complained, pouting into the crook in her elbow. She pushed him out of her embrace.

"Shut up." She smiled. "He's the only one who knows anything about this, this-"

"_I know, I know_." Flounder rolled his eyes. "Human stuff." He fell in beside her, his little fins pumping.

"Well, it's true." She held her head high, liking the way the water moved across her scalp. "I just gotta know, Flounder. I gotta know more about it, I have to, I-"

"Ariel," Flounder asked slowly. "What's that?"

Ariel looked close at the undulating surface. A small speck was moving irregularly and fast. She squinted her eyes before she realized. It was moving _very_ fast.

"Look out!" She pushed Flounder aside and shot out of the way. An instant later a strange, blue thing flew down towards the depths, wakes of bubbles shooting back to the surface. A horrible, distorted screeching sound filled the ocean and Flounder, shrieking, swam away as fast as he could.

Ariel did not.

The box hit the sand hard, sending up a plume of sand as tall as some of the towers at the palace. Thinking of the palace reminded her of Daddy. Just the thought made her sigh. He would tell her to leave it alone, to swim away like a sensible, _normal _mermaid. No doubt it was dangerous, it nearly killed her a second ago.

But something kept her hanging there in that spot in water. The box_ did _come from "up there". Perhaps she could find another treasure of her grotto. And besides, what was life is you didn't risk something once in a while?

She swam closer to the box as the sand settled again. Curious, but still possessing some pragmatic sense, she stayed at a distance for a while. But them, as she got closer and closer, she was seduced by the strangeness. It was stuck in the sand at an angle, on of the corners embedded deep in the sand. It was deep blue, like the deepest abysses of the sea that Daddy kept her from and from which she gladly stayed away. Strange black symbols were written in black on white squares. Sand was in every crook and cranny of the box, giving it a filmy cover.

Ever curious, Ariel reached out hesitant fingers and stroked the surface. It was smooth, but with texture. It reminded her of the sunken human ships that she sometimes explored, but was firmer and more solid. She ran her hands over the surface, pushing water over it with her tail, washing off the sand. Something glimmered in the pale light and she leaned in to inspect it. It was something silver and when she touched it, it was hard and cold. Instinctively, she pushed. At the same time, something on the other side pulled.

In an instant, she was sucked in by a huge, crashing wave of water. She cried out and slammed into something thin and warm. The water twirled her around awkwardly and bent her tail painfully against some surface that was hard and sharp. Water kept pouring in and she was comforted by the wet blanket.

Suddenly, the wave was cut off and Ariel heard someone coughing and sputtering. "Well," Someone said in a strange accent, even stranger outside of water. "That was exciting. Now, what do we have here?'

Ariel was resting on the ground, the water draining around her. Her lungs struggled on the strangely beautiful air and her tail was clammy out of water. She drew back in defense before she realized. It was a _human_. A tall, thin man with spiked hair and sharp features and in strange coverings with stripes. He was wearing strange glasses, one lens blue and one red, as he peered at her.

"Who are you?" She asked. He pulled off the glasses and Ariel blushed at his handsome face. He looked at her up and down then gave her a wide grin.

"I'm the Doctor."


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Doctor Who or Disney.**

CHAPTER 2

Ariel felt rather naked under the strange human's sharp gaze. She covered her chest with one arm, propping herself up on the cold surface with the other. He pulled out a short stick and pointed it at her. It glowed blue and made a strange noise, making her flinch. But nothing happened, he just examined the stick closely.

"Oh, _homo sirena_." He smiles and circles her like a shark around a piece of meat. "That's brilliant, a mermaid, a real mermaid just _sitting_ here."

"Who are you?" Ariel asked, sharper this time. "Doctor who?"

The man, the Doctor, grinned and crouched down on her level. "What's your name?"  
She raised her chin. "Ariel."

"Ariel..." He thought about that. "Beautiful. Now, let's get you back to your family. Or is it pod? Maybe flock, I don't-"

"Wait!" Ariel held her hands out to stop him, resting her weight on her bottom. "Where- what... Wait, what in the world..." She looks around the 'box' she's landed in.

It was huge, huge like her father's throne room. It glowed yellow or gold, a kind of light she had never seen in the sea or above. There were golden orbs lined up the walls and huge, strange columns and strange hard floors. In the center of it all, there was some round disc held up from the floor and some glowing tube with shining buttons and spirals and everything was strange and Ariel could not look at it long enough.

"It's... It's bigger. On the inside." She whispered.

"_Yes_," The Doctor said. "Yes, I suppose it is."

"What is this place?" Ariel murmured.

"It's called the Tardis. It's my, eh-hem, _ship_."

She looked at him, dubious. "It doesn't look like a ship."

"Well, not _that_ kind of a ship. But... It goes places. Plenty of places. Wild, incredible _brilliant_ places."

"Like where?" She asked, rather excited now. The Doctor looked at her closely, then suddenly said, "Right, how about we get you home?" He moved over to the strange disc, pulling and pushing things and looking over them with a crazy knowledge. "Where do you live? Past the reef? Or the chasm? Maybe... Oh, well, there's that undersea city, so I guess..."

"Wait!" Ariel shouted. "Please, don't- don't take me back yet."

The Doctor stood solemnly, letting his gaze rest on her. "Why?"

"Because... Because..." She couldn't use her words. "Those places you go, do you see a lot of things?"

"Yes." He said. "_Things_ are among the items I encounter."

"And you meet... You meet humans?" She couldn't hide her glee.

The Doctor's face got very sad when he said, "Yes. Yes, I do meet humans." Then, a switch went off and he was excited and rushed back over her, leaning over her. "But that's just the start. There's so much more, so much more than humans. Whole _worlds _that aren't human, whole species that aren't human in the least."

"Like what?" Ariel asked.

"Like..." He thought for a moment. "Like me, for example."

"What?" She pulled back in shock. "Aren't you human?"

"No. Not in the slightest."

"Well, what are you then?"

The Doctor crouched, sitting on his knees at her own level. His eyes were so dark, so heavy, so filled with generations of pain. But Ariel looked into these eyes and she found that she could not pull away from them, could not turn from the beauty of the pain.

"Would you like to see them?" He asked. "The places I've been."

"Yes!" She shouted. But the joy faded quickly. "But I- I can't."

"Why?" He asked curiously.

"Look at me." She gestured to her tail, the fins contracting and relaxing on their own and the scales shimmering in the dull light. "I'm bound by water. I can't leave the sea." The sadness that choked her was almost too much to bear, so she ignored it with more words. "And my father and sisters, they will miss me. They'll worry about me and, and I have to return to them soon. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, could you just take me home?"

But the Doctor only smiled and asked, "What if I could you bring you back in the next instant?"

"What do you mean?"

"What if I could take you to these worlds, show you everything, and then bring you back not a second past from when I took you?"

Ariel laughed. "That's impossible."

"So is a box that's bigger on the inside." He countered.

_He has a good point_, she thought. "Can you really do that?"

He nodded. "What about my tail?" She questioned.

"That, I can help out with as well," He stood back to full height. "Though it's a little difficult."

"Why?" She demanded.

"It'll hurt. It'll hurt so bloody much."

Ariel bit her lip in hesitation. But the images, the ideas of worlds so far away, of all the things waiting for her out of this water, they were the ones that made her say, "I don't care."

The Doctor didn't seem surprised, he only nodded and, stooping down, picked her up easily. She blushed at his gentle but firm arm under her tail and wrapped around her shoulders. He carried her down great halls made of dully shining metal and it all astounded her. Eventually he took her into a room and set her in a strange contraption that held her up from the ground that reminded her of her father's throne.

That thought brought up a wave of uneasiness but she swallowed it. The Doctor lowered some strange half circle thing from the ceiling. He came over and helped her put it on her head. Her damp hair clung to her shoulders and she shivered with excitement.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yes." She said quickly.

"Are you sure you wish for this?" He asked quietly, laying his hand on her shoulder. "It'll hurt more than anything you've every experienced. And when we bring you back, it'll hurt even more."

She looked at the Doctor and put her hand over his. She smiled slightly and said, "You're giving my dream. Any pain is worth that."

His face got so sad, so sad that she worried she had said the wrong thing. But he simply nodded and stepped into the shadows. There were strange sounds and lights.

Then, Ariel felt ice replacing her blood and her bones snapping and the world was all wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Doctor Who or Little Mermaid.**

CHAPTER 3

When Ariel opened her eyes, the world was a little warped. Blue lights, like the ones she saw when she first woke up and the light coming from the surface world was soft and tender, filtered through her eyes. Slowly, everything fell back into place and the Doctor was standing over her.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

She said something along the lines of, "Mhm-fargghlag." Which, in her mind, translated perfectly into, "I'm passed out on the floor and I look like death. What do you think?"

But the Doctor just nodded like she made perfect sense. He simply leaned down, picked her up under her arms, and set her firmly on the ground. Ariel felt wobbly and leaned heavily into his thin shoulders.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, look at her intently. "Dizzy? Nauseous? Have the desire to throw up?"

"Yes." She murmured, her tongue feeling thick and awkward. "No. All the above."

The Doctor smiled wickedly at her. "Ariel. Look down."

She did and she gasped. Because she was standing. On legs. Beautiful, long, slender legs clad in strange short coverings. She almost feel over from the sheet joy, but the Doctor held onto her, laughing with her.

"Oh gosh." She stammered. "O-Oh gosh. I- I, I have-"

"Yes."

"I have, I have-"

"Yes."

"I have legs!" She almost jumped. Jumping, oh gosh, that was awesome. Ariel made her toes move and she shrieked with glee.

The Doctor shook his head, smiling. "Yes. Yes, you do."

Ariel felt tears crowding right in the surface of her eyes, but she refused to let tears spoil this experience. She wrapped her arms around the Doctor, smiling into his neck. "Thank you." She whispered. "Thank you, Doctor."

He rubbed her back gently. "You're welcome." He responded. When he pulled back, he asked, "Now, how about those worlds?" She nodded vigorously and he strode to the doors gallantly.

She fell straight to the floor, smacking her face on the cold surface.

When the Doctor helped her back up, she blew her hair out of her face in frustration. Legs were tricky business, those knobby things shaking all the time and the whole _walking_ situation was going to take some time to get use to.

"Maybe," The Doctor suggested. "We should go slowly."

"Yeah. That might help." She smiled and as he helped her slowly down the halls, she began to appreciate his kindness, his _there-ness_. Ariel flushed with anger as she glared at her stumbling feet that fell over themselves and her legs that didn't seem to work. But the halls went for a long time and she managed to get a handle on walking (more or less) by the time she got to the main room. And this time, she could fully appreciate the depth of the room, the massive size, the strange glowing disc.

"And this is all in the box?" She asked, eyes wide with wonder.

The Doctor shrugged. "More or less. You ready?" She nodded, vibrating with excitement. The Doctor danced around the disc, pressing buttons at random and pulling things and going a million a miles an hours, until he stopped at a lever and said, "You _may_ want to hold on to something."

Dubious, Ariel wrapped an arm around one of the railings around the disc. The Doctor grinned and pushed the lever.

The entire room shook and a strange sound filled the air and everything was shaking and Ariel almost buckled over, but she held onto the railing with all her life.

"Are you _trying_ to kill us?" She yelled over the noise.

"No!" He responded. "If I were, it'd be with much more style than _this_."

She rolled her eyes and clung to the railing, feeling her stomach lurch inside her. Her head ached with the noise and a small voice inside her asked her if this was truly the right thing to do? The image of her father popped into her mind and she felt even sicker.

"Where are we going?" She asked, crying out as loud as she could over the roar of the box.

"Oh, it's a surprise." Ariel caught a glimpse of the Doctor's grinning face and she couldn't stop the smile the crept onto her own.

The box suddenly jolted to a halt and no sooner had Ariel grasped the fact that they weren't about to explode that the Doctor was pulling her to the door.

"The most human place in all creation." He put his hand firmly on the door before giving her a heavy look. "Ready?" She nodded speedily. He smiled and pushed the door open.

Ariel felt the sudden urge to faint. They were floating above a huge city, sprawling out beneath her. The air was full of strange scents and the noise below was deafening. But everything, everything was moving and, oh my gosh, humans, humans everywhere, talking and walking and laughing and crying and they were everywhere and strange little boxes were moving so fast and Ariel felt like her heart was going to burst.

She realized her knees had given out and the Doctor was propping her up.

"Oh my gosh." She murmured. "Where... Where are we?"

"New York." The Doctor said. "The original. Well, the original _new _one." He held up a finger to the wind, tasted it, and said, "About 2024."

_He's mad_, she thought. _But wonderful. _Because without this mad man and his box that wasn't a box, she wouldn't be here, looking down on these humans, looking down on-

"New York." She let the words play off her tongue. "Wow, it's wonderful. It's incredible. It's- It's-" She couldn't breath, she was so happy. "It's more than I ever dreamed of."

"This place? Oh, it's nothing." The Doctor put her on her own two feet, leaning over her. She grinned at him as he said, "Wait till I show you the rest."

"What's out there that's better than this?"

"Oh, trust me. There's so much out there."

"Will you show me?" She asked eagerly. "Will you show me the stars?"

He looked into her eyes and, once again, Ariel felt the age of them. But she saw more, the saw their beauty, she saw every single star, every single galaxy they had seen and she hungered for them.

"Right." The Doctor scrambled back to his control panel disc, shutting the door as Ariel ran with him. "Well, there's a lot to choose from, when you're choosing from all of time and space. There's Barcelona, those nose less dogs, they're a riot. But then, the northern cascades of-"

"You can really travel through time and space?" Ariel asked, full of awe.

"Of course. You just saw it. Do you really think I'd lie to you?" She opened her mouth to protest but he cut her off, saying, "The answer is yes. Rule number one: The Doctor lies."

Ariel kept that rule deep in her heart, unwilling to let go of the faint hope that maybe, she was the single person in the universe that he wouldn't lie to. "What do you do? I mean, when you can go _everywhere_?"

"Well," He leaned against the disc, thoughtful. "I see things. I meet people. Occasionally, I'll save the universe. But most of the time-" He leaned in playfully. "I'm running."

"I think we'll have to put running off for a while." Ariel said, embarrassed.

"Don't worry, we'll get you into shape in no time." He smiled. 'Now, I think the perfect place to go-"

"If you can go through time and space," She asked. "Can I see my mother?"

"Why can't you just wait till you get home?" He asked, suspicious.

"She's... Not there." Ariel said plainly. The Doctor sighed and was still for a moment.

"Ariel." He said in a kind, grave voice. "Time is dangerous. Space is mostly simple, but time, it's a jumble, it's a ball of string tangled up in itself."

"What's string?" She asked. She was ignored.

"If I take you to see your mother, who knows what kind of repercussions will come from it. Last time, Rose-" The Doctor seemed to choke and when Ariel looked at him, his eyes were glassy for a moment before they blinked themselves dull.

"We don't have to go," Ariel said, quickly getting away from the subject. "I was just... Just wondering."

"Yes, well." He cleared his throat and went back to flying around his disc. "I think I know the perfect place." He pushed several buttons and then the box was flying again, everything was shaking and it was screaming and it was horrible and wonderful. Ariel was a little more prepared this time and held firmly to the disc. When it finally stopped, the Doctor strode towards the door confidently, Ariel right behind him.

"The city of El Dorado." He said. "5154. Based on the old Earth legend, the entire city is made of gold." He leaned in. "Well, actually, it's fool's gold, but I didn't have to heart to crush their dreams."

He opened the door and Ariel gasped. The world before them was blackened, hot, the air steamy, and glowing red rocks everywhere. Ariel felt a pit in her stomach.

"Doctor," She asked. "Where are we?"

"I have no clue."


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Doctor Who.**

CHAPTER 4

Ariel rubbed her skin, feeling a strange layer of moisture choke her cells. The air was so thick, like she would have to swim her way through it. The sky above was black and low, looming over their heads. The glowing red rock was like water, moving sluggish and slow. The rest of the ground was strangely black, pitted and rocky everywhere. When she stepped out of the box, it crunched painfully under her feet, making her wince.

"Wait here." The Doctor said. He ran back inside the box and returned with a pair of strange items with strings. They matched the pair he had on his feet and, with a bit of instruction and a few patient minutes, Ariel was able to work the _shoes_ onto her new feet.

"What is this?" She asked as they explored the dark world. She was leaning close to the glowing red water-rock, holding her hand out to touch the shifting beauty.

"Ariel, no!" The Doctor reached out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "That's magma- Well, technically, it's lava now that it's above the surface but, anyways, it's rock. Rock made so hot that it turned to liquid. If you touched it, it would burn off your hand."

She pulled her hand away slowly, swallowing. "This is a dangerous world."

"Are you okay?" He put his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "We can leave if you want."

Ariel thought about that, but then said, "No. You have to have a little danger mixed in with you run." She added with a smile.

The Doctor smiled back. "Ariel, I think we're going to get around brilliantly." Suddenly, there were shouts and the heavy sound of foots echoing around them. Strange human clad in bulky orange coverings came, holding pointed things and shouting angrily. They suddenly pointed the things at the two of them and the Doctor held his hands up immediately. Hesitantly, Ariel copied.

"Who are you?" One of them yelled, a women behind a strange screen in her suit. Her face was sharp and angry. Her voice, just as stern as her face, was the same accent as the Doctor's. "How did you get here?"

"Well," The Doctor said. "We, uhm, it's actually a long story. You see-"

"We, uhm, we got-" Ariel supplied.

"Got lost, yes, _and now..._ Uhm, I-"

"Ma'am, we haven't got time." One of the other's, a young man with dark eyes. "The reactor is about to start up, and if we're in here when it does-"

"Yes, alright." She pointed her stick towards the direction they were headed. "You two, come with us _now_."

"Why?" The Doctor demanded.

"Well, you can stay and get blasted with radiation if you like." The man said sarcastically.

"What's radiation?" Ariel asked the Doctor quietly, not wishing to look stupid, but unable to control her curiosity.

"You don't want to find out." The Doctor said. "Alright, let's get a move on, people." The Doctor started running with the humans, outpacing them quickly on his long legs. Ariel tried her best to keep pace, but the air was so thick, her lungs ached, and her legs were rather bothersome.

Eventually they got to a room that was made of a different, silvery material and the air was cool. Her feet squeaked on the smooth surface. One of the humans punched a button and a thick door shut behind them with a slam.

"Now," The women said, removing the covering over her face, holding it against her hip. Her skin was weathered, but pale, and her hair was fine and white. "Why don't you tell us who you are?"

"Yes, well." The Doctor smoothed his striped suit. "I'm the Doctor, and that fishy beauty is Ariel."

"_Fishy beauty_?" Ariel asked, raising an eyebrow boldly.

"Yes, that wasn't the best words I could've said. They sounded much better in my mind but-"

"How did you get in here?" The man asked. He had removed his face covering and was running a hand through his thick, messy black hair. Ariel decided that he was one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen. But not more beautiful than the Doctor.

"Where _is_ here?"

"Ollam Thirty Two." The women says. "We're the British Intergalactic Power and Research Ministry."

"Of course," The Doctor mutters, shaking his head. "You humans, always looking for power."

"Back to the more pressing matter." The man muttered. "_How did you get here_?"

"Well, that's a long story that I'm choosing not to tell you." The Doctor said simply. "But what kind of power are you getting? Thermoelectric? Steam? Oh, please, let it be steam, that would be brilliant."

"Questions later." The women said. Turning to the man, she said, "Capra, take the crew up to the monitors, make sure everything is working normally." The man nodded and the rest of the humans followed him.

"I'm Lillian Led. Commander of this outpost." The woman, Lillian, raised her chin a degree. "But I'll have to ask you to actually _answer _my questions first, if you don't mind." The Doctor shrugged and she led them both to a small table, laden with heavy metal tools. Ariel sat close to the Doctor, her eyes wide as she tried to take in the entire room. It was so beautiful, in it's own way, covered in dust and sweat and grime and tools and dirt and boxes everywhere. It was so human and it was wonderful.

"Now, how did you get here?" Lillian asked, clasping her hands and resting them on the table.

"I'm a sort of traveler." The Doctor explained hesitantly. He threw an arm around Ariel, making her inexplicable happy. "This is my companion, and we just happened to be passing through-"

"Passing through?" Lillian raised an eyebrow in a way that told each of them that that was impossible. The Doctor considered this for a moment before saying, "Where exactly did we end up?"

Lillian rose. "Let me show you." She walked out of the room, the Doctor quickly behind her, Ariel straggling behind, watching every crevice they passed. Every crack in the wall, every smudge on the floor, it was all so different that she simply couldn't see it all like she wanted to.

Lillian led them into a dark room filled with screens glowing strange colors. The rest of the crew, free from their bulky suits, were seated in front of them, typing away furiously. The man was walking between the aisles, watching their work.

"Fredrick," Lillian commanded. "Pull up a map of the entire compound." Looking at the Doctor through the corner of her eye, she said, "This is Fredrick Capra, my second in command."

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded to one of the workers and, on a huge screen on the far end of the room, a shimmering map with lots of tunnels shown in gray against a red background was projected. Above the red, there was a blue layer that slowly got bigger and bigger as the red dipped down to the left. And at the center most region of the tunnels, there was a long tube that led up to the surface, resting on a thin layer of blue.

"Ollam Thirty Two Power Station is based on the nuclear radioactive energy of the magma within the planet."

"Radioactive magma?" The Doctor said, raising an incredulous eyebrow. "Well, now, that's impossible."

"Im_probable_." Lillian corrected. "But not impossible. The magma is a strange material that's more radioactive than uranium. It gives up so much heat, we paid for our entire station within the first two weeks."

"How long have you been here?" Ariel asked, feeling a little more capable of asking questions.

"Counting today... Three weeks."

Ariel rolled her eyes. "Well, that's a milestone."

"But if the magma is giving off so much radioactive energy," The Doctor said, ignoring Ariel and talking extremely fast. "How are we here? How are we not dead?"

"This entire station is re-enforced with the densest material known to man. We're mostly safe from the energy."

"Good, well, as long as we're _mostly_ safe-"

"Doctor!" Ariel gasped, a thought suddenly bursting in her head. "The box- The Tardis! We left it in the tunnel!"

"Don't worry." The Doctor said. "She'll manage."

"The Tardis?" Capra asked.

The Doctor ignored him. "But why were you rushing out of that tunnel?"

Lillian and Capra shared a heavy glance before Lillian said, "I'm not at liberty to tell you, Doctor. But I assure you there's nothing to worry about. We're sending in our Ood to investigate the problem."

"What's an Ood?" Ariel asked.

"A slave creature." Capra answered. "A thoughtless thing that only works. It's happy that way."

"Right, and who told you that?" The Doctor said, his face sharp. "The Ood?"

"Of course." Capra said, defensive. "Ood don't have opinions unless you give them one."

The Doctor stared a Capra for a moment, his face unreadable. Then, suddenly breaking back into his manic excitement once more. "So, where are we staying?"

Lillian, looking surprised, said, "Well, we'll put you in one of the spare bedrooms- until the next supply ship comes and we'll send you on your way." Her voice was relaxed, but her wizened eyes were suspicious and watchful.

"Sounds splendid." The Doctor said, unfazed. "Who can take us there? Capra, ole boy?"

Capra looked to Lillian, who nodded.

"This way, please." Capra led the Doctor and Ariel out of the dark room, down several halls, until they ended up in a long hall full of doors. He opened one and inside were two beds with plain gray blankets, a small pillow, and a tiny chest between them.

"Well, this... this is nice." The Doctor said, appraising the tiny room, nodding. Ariel wrinkled her nose as she stepped in, hesitant.

"Dinner will be a little later. I'll send an Ood to fetch you. Next door is Murray, so if you have any questions, ask him."

"Hey, Capra." The Doctor said, walking up to him and leaning against the door. "Just between us, what do _you _think is going wrong in this place?"

"You'll have to try better than that, _Doctor_." Capra said. Ariel did not like the way he spat the Doctor's name, so she decided that he wasn't very beautiful after all. Capra turned to walk away, before looking over his shoulder and saying, "But if I were you, I'd pray that supply ship comes quickly."


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own Doctor Who or Disney.**

CHAPTER 5

Ariel poked the brown square with her dingle hopper. It jiggled, keeping it's original shape.

"Is this suppose to be appetizing?" She whispered to the Doctor.

"No." He said, shoveling his own portion violently into his mouth. Ariel wrinkled her nose in slight disgust. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

"Humans." She rolled her eyes, pushing her plate away. The rest of the crew was eating, muttering between themselves. They sat on the far side of the dingy cafeteria, occasionally casting suspicious glances towards them. Ariel was acutely aware of the amount of skin her shells and shorts showed and admonished herself when she blushed under their gazes. Wandering between the tables were strange humanoid creatures with grayish, wrinkled skin and slanted eyes. Where their mouths should've been was an eruption of red tentacles that reminded her of a dead squid. Connected to a cord emerging from this tentacled mass was a glowing orb each of them held in their hands. They were as alluring as they were hideous.

"Are those _Ood_?" Ariel asked.

The Doctor nodded. "Is it true?" She asked. "That they're made for slavery? _Servitude_, I mean?"

"In a way." The Doctor allowed. "But only in the way that if a person was forcible paralyzed, they were made for a wheelchair."

"Wheelchair?"

The Doctor mulled over his thoughts for a moment. "The Ood are a beautiful race."

"They don't look like it." Ariel said hesitantly. The Doctor smiled.

"No, not on the outside. But they have the most beautiful souls in the universe. Their minds are connected in such an intricate way, they have strong telepathic powers. And they're gentle and trusting."

"Like... Slaves?" Ariel ventured.

"No." The Doctor's face hardened. "Ood are born with their brain in their hands. They are gentle and trusting because they have to be. Humans came along and thought the trust was an _offering_." The Doctor shook his head in disappointment.

Ariel watched as an Ood came towards them, offering refills on their metallic laced water. As it poured into her glass, Ariel tried to look for signs of misery on their face. But she saw none. In fact, she saw no emotion. Like it had pulled it's soul into itself, away from the world.

"So are _they _the problem?" She asked, shivering away from the sadness in her heart. "The Ood, I mean. Are they the problem?"

"Why do you think there's a problem?" The Doctor asked, leaning back and resting his feet on the table, ostentatiously in Ariel's face.

Ariel glared at him and pushed his feet away. "Because it wouldn't be an adventure if there wasn't a problem." The Doctor grinned. "And, well, the humans are all acting like-"

"Like there's a problem." He finished. "And it's a secret. Which are my favorite. Secret problems, I mean." He leaned in, hunching over the table. "So, we've got to do a little investigating. A little _snooping_."

"What's snooping?" Ariel asked.

"Ya know, like looking around for clues and answers and, well, being kinda nosy. _Snooping_."

She nodded. "Alright... Uhm, I'm not sure I'm gonna be that good with this."

"Oh, I don't know." The Doctor rested his chin in his palm. "_That _fellow seems a little too willing to spill some secrets to you."

Ariel followed his gaze over to one of the workers. He was young, maybe even younger than Ariel. His messy blonde hair stuck up at all angles, his eyes framed by thick black glasses. His orange jumpsuit was wrinkled and ill fitting. He was openly staring at Ariel, his fork posed right in front of his mouth, a mouthful of something brown hanging suspended. Ariel blushed, not knowing why she should.

"How do I, uhm, what's that word again?"

"Snoop. And, well, you've got to _bat your eyes_, like this." He demonstrated, looking incredible fabulous. "And, just, well..." He leaned towards her more, relaxing his shoulders and grinning at her devilishly. This made Ariel blush even more and, without thinking, she reached out and laced her fingers through the Doctor's hair.

"What," He said slowly. "Are you doing?"

"I don't know." She confessed. "I thought it would be comforting- And it _is_. I mean, it's so soft and fluffy and-"

"Alright, then." The Doctor said, pulling back with an amused grin. "You ready?"

"Yes." She stood to her feet, relishing the feeling of her own weight resting on the floor. The Doctor gave her a thumbs-up for good luck as she turned on her heel. The young worker was emptying his tray, and then he headed down one of the halls towards the work stations. As stealthily as she could (which probably wasn't very much, considering she had had legs for less than 12 hours), Ariel followed him. It was a little tricky, navigating the dark corridors. But eventually, Ariel found him, standing alone in front of a glowing wall. She took a deep breath and stepped into the room.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said, feigning embarrassment. "I was... I was looking..." She lost her words as she watched the wall.

"Wow." She said.

"Yeah." The man replied. "Pretty wow."

The wall was made of thick glass and, right behind the glass, was something like water, but denser. It glowed red and orange and gold and yellow and all the most beautiful colors she could ever think of. Standing in it's glow, Ariel felt a layer of warmth wrap around her, like a soft hug.

"What is it?" She asked quietly.

"Magma." The man answered. "It's whats powering the entire plant. The energy coming off this magma is like nothing we've ever seen. It's... Incredible."

Ariel didn't say anything for a bit, lost in the glow of the _magma_. "So the entire planet is made up of this... I'm sorry, what was your name?"

"Winston."

"Winston." Ariel smiled. She thought of the Doctor's impatient face and she flicked her thick hair off her shoulder. "I'm Ariel."

"Nice to meet you." He held out his hand.

_Crap!_ Ariel was breaking under the pressure of human customs. Unsure, she simply held out her hand and laid it flat against his palm. Winston raised an eyebrow and grasped her hand, shaking it gently. Blushing, she pulled her hand away.

"So," She said. "The planet. It's made up of all this?"

"Well, not exactly."

"What, then?" Ariel asked. Winston bit his lip. Ariel grinned and asked, "Is it against the rules?" He nodded. "Well, we should definitely go." She put her hands on her hips and leaned close to him, questioning. "Don't you?"

Winston tried to speak, but his words stopped in his throat and he stood there, mouth open. After a moment, he said quickly, "Alright. But you can't tell anyone about this." As Ariel nodded vigorously, Winston went over to the wall and pressed a big blue button. A quiet whirring sound filled the air and a door opened on the wall where one hadn't been before. The light was white and blue, cold and welcoming.

Winston stepped into the door and held out a hand to Ariel. After a moment of hesitation, Ariel grabbed his hand and stepped into the door. The room was small, just big enough for the two of them to stand uncomfortably. Winston pushed another button and the door shut and the room began to shake. Ariel yelped, but Winston just laughed. He was about Ariel's height, unlike the gangly Doctor. He smiled at her and his smile, it was warm.

Finally, the room was still and the door opened. Instead of the glass room, Winston and Ariel stood on a lone metal overlook, like a tower coming out of the ground. But the tower was small, at least, the visible part was. There was a small, round balcony around the tower, made of rusted metal, but that wasn't the impressive part.

Ariel was surrounded by an ocean that was boiling.

The air was thick and hot, even hotter than the lab. Almost scalding. Ariel's lungs felt dry and empty almost immediately. The sky was a deep, burnt red, almost smoky. But the ocean, it was screaming, bubbling painfully in all directions. Ariel could hear it, like a constant roar. Ariel walked to the edge of the balcony, looking over the sea. She couldn't see the bottom, but just putting her face over the water was like a burn. She squeaked in pain and Winston pulled her back.

"You okay?" Winston asked. She nodded, and he said, "Isn't it brilliant? The crust of the planet is so thin, the water is superheated by the magma beneath. It's incredible. We could get so much energy _just_ from the steam, but Commander Led says that steam energy is archaic and-

"The entire sea," Ariel said dumbly. "Is boiling."

"Yeah, yeah, it is." Winston confirmed with a smile.

"What about the fish? What about the plants? What about the life?" Ariel demanded.

"There aren't any." Ariel must've looked confused, because Winston added, "There is no life in the seas, the heat is too extreme."

Ariel felt her sadness stab at her heart, tearing through the flesh. The ocean was boiling, but the ocean was dead. She'd never seen something like it before. Every bit of the sea, every crevice and crack, held some kind of life. Life was durable like that. Persistent.

Ariel was about to ask him how they built the lab with this sea around them when suddenly the earth began to shake. Violently. It reminded Ariel of the earthquakes back home that would rock the seas and send ripples for miles and miles. But this was stronger, fiercer. She heard a piercing _crack_, and heard an instant _whoosh_ of steam. She covered her eyes as a scalding plume of steam shot up from the sea. The water began to rock in boiling waves, some headed towards them. Winston was panicking, pushing the button to open the door, screaming for Ariel to come on, come on, Ariel, come on!

But there was something weird, something different. The water around the plume, at the center of the waves, tossed and turned and rippled. Like the water back home when a mermaid was swimming just beneath the surface.

Ariel stepped forward, gripping the bar of the balcony.

The steam spreading in all directions. Some had reached them and Ariel felt the blistering burns eat at her skin, but she clamped her screams in her throat. She trained her eyes on the plume, on the very edges, and she swore she saw a glowing red arm, the same shifting colors of the magma she had seen, reach above the surface. It dulled to a black and fell beneath the waves instantly.

The pain became overwhelming and Ariel shrieked. She felt Winston's hands wrap around her arms, pulling her back, and her world went black.


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own Doctor Who or the Little Mermaid.**

CHAPTER 6

"You're lucky to be alive." Maxi, the medical officer, said as he sprayed Ariel's arm with a stinging blue solution. Ariel flinched. She was sitting in a cold, functional examination room "Steam storms are one of the most dangerous things on this planet."

"Besides being surrounded by radioactive lava and a boiling ocean?" The Doctor asked, leaned against the examination table.

"Yes." Maxi said stiffly. "Besides... All that."

"Is Winston going to be okay?" Ariel asked, the deep, long burn on her forearm starting to feel better.

"His hands were pretty burned up, but I think he'll be fine. Lillian will be hard on him, but not in the normal way."

"What do ya mean?" She asked.

Maxi looked at her like she was stupid. "Winston is Lillian's son. He's only here on an apprenticeship type deal, but he doesn't do any of the dangerous stuff."

"Because he's young." Ariel murmured. She remembered her father's suffocating grip on her, protecting her from a world she never had a chance to love.

"Because he's her only family." Maxi corrected. He tied Ariel's arm up in gauze and said, "It should be healed up in a while. Just be more careful next time."

"Thanks, Doctor." The Doctor said, grinning like he had told the greatest joke. Maxi gave them each a suspicious look before leaving alone in the steel room. The Doctor stood in front of Ariel, looking her deep in the eyes.

"You alright?" He asked, raising his heavy eyebrows in question.

"Of course." Ariel brushed him off.

"That brave, what you did. Incredibly stupid, but brave." He smiled as he spoke and Ariel blushed. "Now," He began to pace slightly, rubbing his chin, and sticking his bottom jaw out in thought. "We still need to figure out what's happening here."

"Doctor." Ariel started.

"Sabotage? But who? Maybe one of the workers. Lillian, to get her son off the planet? No, no, that's not right. But maybe one of the others. But why would they wanna kill everyone here, it makes no sense!"

"_Doctor_." Ariel said, annoyed.

He ignored her. "And then there's this planet in general. A _boiling_ planet. _Radioactive_ magma. It's impossible, _improbable_. Still, there's just something _weird_ about this planet."

"_Doctor!_" She shouted.

"Yes!" He turned on a heel and look right at her. "Yes, right, sorry, I was listening."

"I saw something. On the surface, I mean." The Doctor opened his mouth, but Ariel cut in and said. "_Besides_ water and stuff."

"Water and stuff." He nodded slowly. "Alright, what did you see?"

"An arm. An arm, reaching out from the crack in the surface. It was-"

"That's impossible. What do you mean, an arm?"

Confused, Ariel slowly answered, "I mean, _an arm_. I'm assuming it was connected to a body, so I was saying-"

"But that's impossible." The Doctor said, mostly to himself, running a hand through his distressed hair.

"Less than twelve hours ago, I was carried away by an alien in a box that's bigger on the inside to a boiling planet. My definition of _impossible_ has been severely stretched."

"But people, living in the ocean. It's impossible, it's too hot for life to survive."

"Wait!" Ariel said. "The arm, it was glowing. Like the magma. And it turned black and sank after a second." The Doctor took a moment and looked deep into her eyes.

"You sure?" He asked. Ariel felt a little flustered under his intense gaze.

"I-I don't know. There was, ya know, steam, and I being burned and all, so..." But when Ariel met his gaze equally, her mouth could only say, "Yes. Yes, I'm sure."

Then, the Doctor was doing his nervous pacing. "Well," He murmured. "Well, that's, that's impossible." Ariel gave him a sarcastic look. "Alright, _improbable_. But, but _magma people_. Or are they water people?"

"Magma people." Ariel said definitely.

"Yes, magma people, good, alright. Now," He slapped his hands on either side of Ariel, leaning into her personal space. Ariel blushed, the Doctor said, "Why would they be causing the earthquakes?"

"Do we _know_ they're causing the earthquakes?" Ariel asked slowly, pushing the Doctor out of her personal bubble.

"Well, we don't _know_ that for sure." The Doctor receded, considering her words. "But it would make sense." Suddenly, the room shakes violently. The Doctor grabs hold of Ariel, steadying her. The rumble fades and the Doctor keeps his hold.

"Uhm," Ariel clears her throat awkwardly. "Doctor, I-"

But he's gone, running out the door shouting, "_We have to see what it did!_" And Ariel jumped off the bed, running after him. Funny, how a girl can have legs for half a day and be an expert at running if you're with the Doctor. But the Doctor was so far ahead of her, flying on those long legs. Gasping, she rounded a corner and found a group of people gathering in a tight clump. Ariel forced her way through.

"What did I-" She gasped.

The wall had been torn away, letting magma pour into the corridor. It was hard now, a solid black rock that steamed angrily. The Doctor leaned over it sadly, giving a sad glance back at Ariel.

Trapped in the black rock was a half-melted, half-screaming corpse.


End file.
